We Are Not Sure Why This Was The Most Trending YouTube Video In India This Year

2016, what's wrong with you?

Last week, a rather unsettling email -- which questioned my commitment to my religion (also known as the internet) -- landed in my inbox. It claimed that a certain video was the top trending video in 2016 in India. Since the year has stopped pretending to be nice or bearable, I assumed that I may have missed it while sobbing about the year's many tragedies.

This particular episode has 22,883,227 views. To put it into perspective, it is more than the population of Sri Lanka. And what exactly is this video the country has been going nuts over? An episode of The Kapil Sharma Show which had Salman Khan and Anushka Sharma.

Now there are several reasons I steer clear of anything that has Kapil Sharma and one of the biggest reason is the 'casual sexism' it promotes. The permanent fixtures on his show are two cis men, dressed as women. And these characters are meant to be caricatures -- foolish, over-the-top, embarrassing and vulgar. Sharma's 'best' jokes involves retorting to their stupid comments with his own wisecracks.

Set India/YouTube

Salman Khan is introduced into the show as soon as it begins, but before that, of course, we have Navjot Singh Sidhu. Sidhu, who can laugh uproariously at everything from air to mosquito bites, opens the show doing just that. Salman Khan enters soon after, looking bored as hell. I never thought I will say this one day but it seemed that he got me.

Four minutes into the show and Kapil Sharma has already cracked a fat joke. "Achcha inki (Salman Khan) body hain, yeh utaar bhi saktein hain...yeh Pandey hain na humara drum wala paaji (the drummer of the band)...achcha ek din usne shirt utaari, pata nahin chal raha tha drum kaun hain, Pandey kaun hain (He {Salman Khan} at least has the body, he can take off his shirt...but our drummer, Pandey...once he took off his shirt, we couldn't tell which was the drum and which was Pandey)." Navjot Singh Sindhu's laughter booms, Salman Khan looks tortured.

Set India/YouTube

The jokes then begin to move to some dangerous territory, namely the langot. The very inquisitive Kapil Sharma wants to know what is the reason behind Salman Khan denouncing his pants? Is it the 'demand of the script' or female fans? I tried rolling back my eyes farther, I had to dig it from the back of my brain with a scoop spoon.

Five minutes into the show and we have the first homophobic joke.

And voila! Five minutes into the show and we have the first homophobic joke. Salman Khan says, "Demand toh script ki hi thi. Aur, I think female fans se zyada, male fans isko appreciate zyada kar rahein hain. Samajh mein hi nahin aa raha (It was the demand of the script. But I think more than female fans, male fans appreciated this look. It was all very confusing)!" Everyone laughs like they have stumbled upon the best joke of the century.

Then out of nowhere, Rochelle Rao, part of The Kapil Sharma Show cast, trots towards Salman Khan, loudly wishing him Eid Mubarak. Kapil Sharma calls her stupid and shows her how to actually wish -- he goes and hugs her and she tries to escape his clutches. Just some casual, comical harassment. Don't we love it?

Kapil Sharma calls her stupid and shows her how to actually wish -- he goes and hugs her and she tries to escape his clutches.

Shortly after this, Kiku Sharda appears in a pink costume and after some nonsensical chatter tries to feed what he claims to be 'stale kheer' to Salman Khan. Sooooo funny that I could actually feel my brain crackle and burn up.

Again, Khan seems to be the person you will be able to relate to on the set. He laughs, clearly because he has to and has realised that he has a long day ahead of him.

Set India/YouTube

After some good seventeen minutes, Anushka Sharma is introduced. She is a sight for sore eyes and ears. There are some jokes cracked at her expense. Oh you know, those really funny ones on how women can't drive? Those.

The most trending video on YouTube, in all probabilities, took a subtle dig at the outrage around the ridiculous analogy.

Describing the experience of kushti, Salman Khan says "I felt like..." and Anushka interrupted. "What?" she asks. As an afterthought he says "...killing those guys." Kapil Sharma says, "Bada soch samajh ke bolna padta hain aaj kal...aap bhi soch samajh ke hansiye. Sab phasenge (One really has to think before speaking these days...you all should also think before laughing. Or you all will be in trouble)."

If you are wondering what prompted this epiphany, you'll have to be reminded of that unfortunate moment when Khan compared the rigorous work-out involved in getting a wrestler's body to that of the physical trauma a raped woman has undergone. The most trending video on YouTube, in all probabilities, took a subtle dig at the outrage around the ridiculous analogy. Yup, what did we tell you about 2016?

Set India/YouTube

Next comes Ali Asgar, dressed in a salwar kameez and jewellery. He makes a pass at Salman Khan, who knows not what to do. I assume we are supposed to find the idea of a cis man, dressed up as a woman, and hitting on another man, funny. At least from the raucous laughter on the sets, I am compelled to feel that I am in a minority.

The next couple of minutes is salvaged by Sunil Grover playing a funny know-it-all doctor called Dr Mashoor Gulati. Those were the actual few minutes in the episode that I stopped wondering who finds this nonsense funny. I think I had Anushka Sharma for company -- she was pretending so hard to convince people that she was having fun that I could cry a tear or two for her.

Set India/YouTube

Sometime later, at one point, Sunil Grover and Chandan Prabhakar, dressed as a woman, start a mock wrestle. They pant, they make faces, their wigs come off and the audience sounds like they are having a hard time keeping their stomachs from splitting. Understandable, I was almost in a similar space -- only my head was the one at the receiving end of this extreme experience.